Dada Bees

[roadrunnertwice]

At some point I'd like to get around to a more substantive post about our week-long backpacking trip in the Wallowas, and we'll see when/if that happens, but for now:

When we pulled into our campsite at Swamp Lake (about 1000000x more lovely and delightful than the name implies, although I DO love the swampy swamp), we saw some yellowjackets and worried they might be dicks during dinner. But then I realized they weren't yellowjackets! They were mimics! Some kind of fly. I recognized them from previous encounters at Dad's nursery and my childhood backyard; the eyes and the wings are the giveaway.

I meant to try to ID them later, but Kottke saved me the effort with today's post about yellow stripes — they're hoverflies! I think we maybe saw a couple different subspecies over the week.

While we were still out in the field with no network, I started calling them Dada Bees, because they spent all their time doing things that didn't seem to make any sense. Here are some things Dada Bees seem to enjoy doing:

• Licking my shirt sleeve (which was filthy)
• Staring at our water bottle while hovering in midair
• Walking around in circles on our gas can
• Following us and then doing nothing in particular when they catch up with us

I don't know, man! Most other bugs always seem busy with something (except gnats, which I think are glitched in the current version of reality), but these guys just kind of hung out.

I had a brief fantasy that they were cognitive beings that feed on confusion, and their foraging behavior is to follow humans while making zero sense.

Comments

[grrlpup]

I read recently that hoverflies are called "good news bees" in Appalachia. Not sure if they're spreading good news or waiting for you to tell them some. :)

[roadrunnertwice]

Lol that's great!! I wonder if it's a reference to door to door evangelists, somehow.